Dana White is sticking to his guns when it comes to the proposed heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.

The pair, generally regarded as the light heavyweight and heavyweight fighters (respectively) in the organisation’s history, were scheduled to fight last November in New York before a pectoral injury sustained by Jones in preparation forced the cancellation of the bout. Instead, England’s Tom Aspinall stepped up on short notice to defeat Russian powerhouse Sergei Pavlovich to claim the interim heavyweight title — and, as many assumed, a ticket to an undisputed heavyweight title opportunity.

Instead, the UFC brass have maintained course for a Jones-Miocic title bout despite them combining for just two fights across the past four year, while Aspinall defended his interim crown against Curtis Blaydes earlier this summer.

But speaking to the media Tuesday in Las Vegas (including The Mac Life), White defended the UFC’s plans to hold the Jones-Miocic contest.

“A guy who is looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, this fight is set up, Jon Jones gets hurt, it’s not his fault,” White said, as noted by MMA Fighting. “He has to wait and go back into f*cking training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years?

“If I did that, you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever!’ and so would the f*cking fans. So I should just shit on Stipe because Jon got hurt and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?”

White also took aim at suggestions from the media that they should move on from Miocic towards the Aspinall bout.

“I have two legends of the sport that wanted to fight each other,” he explained. “These guys are lined up, one guy gets hurt, and this is the fight that they both want. What do you do? You don’t show the guys the respect? I guarantee you this, if Stipe wins, Stipe is going to retire. This will be Stipe’s last fight.

“So are you, the media, telling me I should just tell Stipe to f*ck off? ‘Good luck to you Stipe, ride off into the sunset, go fight some fires and that’s a wrap for you buddy, because Jon got hurt.’ Or do I show this guy the respect that I should show him and give them both the fight that they want? That’s the position I’m in.

“Aspinall’s a young, badass dude,” White added. “He’s got plenty of time. These guys are going to fight in November and he will fight Jon Jones if he wins, I almost guarantee you that. And if Stipe wins, we’ll figure out what’s next for Aspinall.”